Basic Walkthrough for the first quest using just the starter deck on easy. This is just for people who want to experience the story and not interested in playing at higher difficulties, or for people learning the game and just trying to get the basics down.
Other The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game Guides:
Walkthrough
Part 0.
Mulligan. I’m looking for 1-2 cost allies and will mulligan anything else away.
Part 1.
Sauron begins with 4 enemies in play, 2 with guard, and a hazard-Glint of Steel. The goal is to either kill the enemies or clear the hazard. The fate bar has 2 events I want to trigger, the first at 2 fate-Lembas and the second at 7 fate-Gloin. I’ll try to open with a 2-cost ally like Veteran Axehand or Ithilien Lookout. This will pass priority to Sauron who gets a free attack but I can guard my ally to force the attack and get Gimli’s ability to trigger. Then I can guard with Gimli and Aragorn to force more attacks. And I’ll be using Arwen to fill up that fate meter. I want to get Gloin as soon as possible. If things go well, you’ll have Gloin and Lembas by the time you clear out the spiders and can travel. Don’t forget to use all your characters to either guard or fill up the fate meter before you leave.
Part 2.
The goal here is to clear the hazard. I want Sting on Aragorn. With his power, he can clear spiders easily. In the fate bar, I really want to use Arwen to grab the mirkwood water before I leave. Use Gloin and Aragorn to soak attacks with guard. Keep playing guys to the board and guarding up. Use Gimli to kill enemies before they can attack if you have a guard up, or use guard on him.
Part 3.
So your only goal here is to kill Kirous. This is why we wanted the Mirkwood Water. Immediately use it on him and go to town wailing on him. I also want to grab Grimbeorn before I leave this location. Arwen should be able to grab it in 1-2 turns. If you can get Grimbeorn in 1 turn, it’ll clear Kirous and you can pass by in a single round.
Part 4.
This is the final encounter. The goal is just to clear the enemies. With Grimbeorn, you should be able to do this easily. Arwen can be used to free Wilelk. Between Grimbeorn’s Stalwart and Wilelk’s Stalwart, clearing the enemies is cake. If you came into this stage with a large board, you can clear the spiders even before freeing Wilelk.